The special, which aired this past Saturday prior to UFC’s main-card pay-per-view special, earned some of the lowest ratings in the near-two-year history of the Spike TV specials.

Despite the lower-than-usual numbers, the May 28 broadcast did win its timeslot in the men 18-49 demographic among basic-cable stations. Additionally, the audience size grew throughout the night with 1.13 million viewers in the first quarter hour and 1.5 million in the final quarter hour.

UFC 130 also featured three fights that streamed live on Facebook, though officials don’t reveal the number of online viewers for the
specials.

To date, Spike TV has aired 17 “UFC Prelims” broadcasts (ION Television
also aired two). The all-time record for viewership was set in February
when two million viewers tuned in for a “UFC Prelims” special for UFC 126.

The full list of “UFC Prelims” broadcasts and ratings as compiled by MMAjunkie.com includes:

1) UFC 126 (February 2011): 2 million viewers

2) UFC 109 (February 2010): 1.7 million

3) UFC 114 (May 2010): 1.6 million

4) UFC 129 (April 2010): 1.5 million

4) UFC 108 (January 2010): 1.5 million

4) UFC 121 (October 2010): 1.5 million

4) UFC 123 (November 2010): 1.5 million

8) UFC 104 (October 2009): 1.4 million

8) UFC 103 (September 2009): 1.4 million

10) UFC 130 (May 2011): 1.3 million

10) UFC 128 (March 2011): 1.3 million

10) UFC 119 (September 2010): 1.3 million

10) UFC 116 (July 2010): 1.3 million

10) UFC 115 (June 2010): 1.3 million

10) UFC 106 (November 2009): 1.3 million

16) UFC 111 (March 2010): 1.2 million

17) UFC 118 (August 2010): 1.1 million

18) UFC 125 (January 2011): 829,000*

19) UFC 127 (February 2011): 714,000*

* – Aired on ION Television

The UFC first offered a PPV teaser broadcast for UFC 103, when the UFC
went head-to-head on Spike TV with a boxing PPV broadcast featuring
Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Marquez. The specials proved effective
enough at generating last-minute PPV buys that officials from the UFC
and the organization’s longtime cable partner decided to make them a
regular offering.

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